Huffer - Friday's Child
Title: Friday's Child
Author: Jen "Newsy" Kerner
Characters: Huffer, Cliffjumper (with a couple non-minibot guest appearances)
Word Count: 835
Rating: PG; a bit of battle action
Group/Theme: Days of the week*/Friday
* Using the Monday's Child nursery rhyme - this chapter is based on "Friday's child is loving and giving"
Summary: Huffer and Cliffjumper face off against a big, bad adversary.
“I trust you enjoyed your trip, Autobots,” Shockwave blandly intoned. He advanced on Cliffjumper, gun arm raised to the level of the red minibot’s chest. A faint whine signaled the powering up of the Decepticon’s deadly weapon.
Huffer tried to force Cliffjumper back into the space bridge for a return trip to Earth. “This was my dumb idea,” he messaged through internal communication, “and you shouldn’t die for it.”
“Told ya you’d need backup,” Cliffjumper silently relayed by way of refusal. He knocked Huffer’s arm out of the way and fired a quick blast of glass gas at Shockwave, only catching the towering Decepticon on his hand but still distracting him.
Shockwave glared - as well as a one-eyed face could glare - and brought his built-in weapon to bear on Cliffjumper once more. “Now what?” Huffer messaged.
“You distract him,” Cliffjumper directed. “I’ll nail him in the optic… mouth… face, whatever.”
Huffer barely stifled a scornful laugh. Cliffjumper had plenty in the way of spirit, but not much in the way of aim, and now he’d crafted a plan that would require him to carry out an extraordinary feat of marksmanship on Shockwave’s face. By Huffer’s calculations, that meant the fight added up to two little idiots versus one efficient killing machine.
Not great odds. But when one is facing a killing machine, Huffer reasoned, it’s best to go out fighting. Just in case.
“Hey, Cyclops!” he yelled, hoping against hope that he’d attract Shockwave’s attention at least momentarily away from Cliffjumper. “Can ya see me?”
Incredibly, it worked. Shockwave froze, disregarded the direction of his gun arm and looked around the room in bewilderment searching for the minibot that went with the voice.
Cliffjumper lined up a shot.
Even more incredibly, a pulse of glass gas bolted straight into Shockwave’s face, rendering his optic useless. The Decepticon’s vocal apparatus produced an involuntary pained shriek as shards of brittle, crystallized purple metal from around his optic crumbled to the floor and shattered into even smaller pieces.
“Now!” Cliffjumper said aloud. Huffer ran past the blinded enemy and toward the open door of the space bridge.
Shockwave, still unable to control the eerie scream from his vocal mechanism, instinctively moved his hand toward his face in an attempt to stall the effect of Cliffjumper’s weapon. He blindly waved his gun arm and fired a shot in the general direction of the minibots. A beam of destructive energy sailed over their heads and burned a hole in the wall behind them. Before Shockwave could unload again, Huffer grabbed Cliffjumper’s arm and dragged him into the space bridge as the door closed.
The distorted feeling, the odd visuals and the equilibrium-wrecking sensation of simultaneous motion and non-motion returned. Space bridge travel was no more pleasant leaving Cybertron than it was arriving. Huffer felt unwell again, but he didn’t care. Two small Autobots, escaping Shockwave - this was more than a mere unlikely occurrence; it was a rush. “We did it!” he laughed. Cliffjumper joined him as the two minibots tried to exchange an appropriate Terran gesture of congratulations, but the peculiarities of the space bridge had deprived them of their depth perception, and their hands missed each other widely.
Huffer and Cliffjumper landed on the bridge’s metallic base with a hollow thunk, followed by a lighter clattering. In the chaos of the skirmish, Shockwave had neglected to retrieve the shipment with which the two ‘Bots had stowed away.
“Energon,” Huffer said with a grin.
The door of the space bridge opened to reveal that the runaway mechs had returned under cover of night and, fortunately, alone. The cocky ‘Cons probably assumed the all-powerful and perfect Shockwave had wiped the little pests out. The minibots quietly pulled cube after cube of energon from the space bridge and set them aside in a pile. “How are we gonna get this into the Ark without them hearing us?” Huffer messaged.
“Just don’t say anything,” Cliffjumper messaged back. “Transform and I’ll load you up.”
Once his vehicle mode was crammed with as many energon cubes as would fit - which wasn’t many, considering his small size - Huffer cautiously rolled toward the Ark. Cliffjumper, operating as lookout, followed on foot so he could have a higher line of sight.
“Hey, uh, Cliff?” Huffer relayed anxiously when they were within sight of home base. “The bad guys didn’t see us… but what about the good guys?”
Before Cliffjumper could answer, silently or aloud, the door of the Ark opened, and out stepped a fully armed Grapple. The taller mech pointed his rifle at the smaller two and issued a blunt threat: “Stand down, or I’ll shoot.”
“Wait! It’s us!” Huffer squeaked in panic.
Grapple lowered his rifle and walked within arm’s length of Huffer and Cliffjumper. “What did you two think you were doing?” he asked sternly.
Cliffjumper laughed nervously and pointed to the stockpile. “Look! Energon!”
“Wonderful,” Grapple said dryly. Huffer cringed at his tone. “You boys are going to have a chat with Prime. Now.”
Author: Jen "Newsy" Kerner
Characters: Huffer, Cliffjumper (with a couple non-minibot guest appearances)
Word Count: 835
Rating: PG; a bit of battle action
Group/Theme: Days of the week*/Friday
* Using the Monday's Child nursery rhyme - this chapter is based on "Friday's child is loving and giving"
Summary: Huffer and Cliffjumper face off against a big, bad adversary.
“I trust you enjoyed your trip, Autobots,” Shockwave blandly intoned. He advanced on Cliffjumper, gun arm raised to the level of the red minibot’s chest. A faint whine signaled the powering up of the Decepticon’s deadly weapon.
Huffer tried to force Cliffjumper back into the space bridge for a return trip to Earth. “This was my dumb idea,” he messaged through internal communication, “and you shouldn’t die for it.”
“Told ya you’d need backup,” Cliffjumper silently relayed by way of refusal. He knocked Huffer’s arm out of the way and fired a quick blast of glass gas at Shockwave, only catching the towering Decepticon on his hand but still distracting him.
Shockwave glared - as well as a one-eyed face could glare - and brought his built-in weapon to bear on Cliffjumper once more. “Now what?” Huffer messaged.
“You distract him,” Cliffjumper directed. “I’ll nail him in the optic… mouth… face, whatever.”
Huffer barely stifled a scornful laugh. Cliffjumper had plenty in the way of spirit, but not much in the way of aim, and now he’d crafted a plan that would require him to carry out an extraordinary feat of marksmanship on Shockwave’s face. By Huffer’s calculations, that meant the fight added up to two little idiots versus one efficient killing machine.
Not great odds. But when one is facing a killing machine, Huffer reasoned, it’s best to go out fighting. Just in case.
“Hey, Cyclops!” he yelled, hoping against hope that he’d attract Shockwave’s attention at least momentarily away from Cliffjumper. “Can ya see me?”
Incredibly, it worked. Shockwave froze, disregarded the direction of his gun arm and looked around the room in bewilderment searching for the minibot that went with the voice.
Cliffjumper lined up a shot.
Even more incredibly, a pulse of glass gas bolted straight into Shockwave’s face, rendering his optic useless. The Decepticon’s vocal apparatus produced an involuntary pained shriek as shards of brittle, crystallized purple metal from around his optic crumbled to the floor and shattered into even smaller pieces.
“Now!” Cliffjumper said aloud. Huffer ran past the blinded enemy and toward the open door of the space bridge.
Shockwave, still unable to control the eerie scream from his vocal mechanism, instinctively moved his hand toward his face in an attempt to stall the effect of Cliffjumper’s weapon. He blindly waved his gun arm and fired a shot in the general direction of the minibots. A beam of destructive energy sailed over their heads and burned a hole in the wall behind them. Before Shockwave could unload again, Huffer grabbed Cliffjumper’s arm and dragged him into the space bridge as the door closed.
The distorted feeling, the odd visuals and the equilibrium-wrecking sensation of simultaneous motion and non-motion returned. Space bridge travel was no more pleasant leaving Cybertron than it was arriving. Huffer felt unwell again, but he didn’t care. Two small Autobots, escaping Shockwave - this was more than a mere unlikely occurrence; it was a rush. “We did it!” he laughed. Cliffjumper joined him as the two minibots tried to exchange an appropriate Terran gesture of congratulations, but the peculiarities of the space bridge had deprived them of their depth perception, and their hands missed each other widely.
Huffer and Cliffjumper landed on the bridge’s metallic base with a hollow thunk, followed by a lighter clattering. In the chaos of the skirmish, Shockwave had neglected to retrieve the shipment with which the two ‘Bots had stowed away.
“Energon,” Huffer said with a grin.
The door of the space bridge opened to reveal that the runaway mechs had returned under cover of night and, fortunately, alone. The cocky ‘Cons probably assumed the all-powerful and perfect Shockwave had wiped the little pests out. The minibots quietly pulled cube after cube of energon from the space bridge and set them aside in a pile. “How are we gonna get this into the Ark without them hearing us?” Huffer messaged.
“Just don’t say anything,” Cliffjumper messaged back. “Transform and I’ll load you up.”
Once his vehicle mode was crammed with as many energon cubes as would fit - which wasn’t many, considering his small size - Huffer cautiously rolled toward the Ark. Cliffjumper, operating as lookout, followed on foot so he could have a higher line of sight.
“Hey, uh, Cliff?” Huffer relayed anxiously when they were within sight of home base. “The bad guys didn’t see us… but what about the good guys?”
Before Cliffjumper could answer, silently or aloud, the door of the Ark opened, and out stepped a fully armed Grapple. The taller mech pointed his rifle at the smaller two and issued a blunt threat: “Stand down, or I’ll shoot.”
“Wait! It’s us!” Huffer squeaked in panic.
Grapple lowered his rifle and walked within arm’s length of Huffer and Cliffjumper. “What did you two think you were doing?” he asked sternly.
Cliffjumper laughed nervously and pointed to the stockpile. “Look! Energon!”
“Wonderful,” Grapple said dryly. Huffer cringed at his tone. “You boys are going to have a chat with Prime. Now.”